Issue date: 3/18/10 Section: Opinions

The whores of Sumer:

At the temple of the Goddess Inanna, the sacred duty of the priestesses was to give themselves up to Sumerians in order to ensure the fertility of their lands. The High Priestess played her part in this charade when, every New Year, she would legitimize the King's claim to power by selecting him as her Dumuzid, the shepherd-boy chosen by the Goddess to consummate with and rule the lands.

Succeeding generations propagated the belief that these priestesses were deserving of their higher social status as they were primarily responsible for what the land was blessed with. Each year of harvest brought with it the apparent verification of their sacred power; the lands were fertile and a fitting shepherd was leading the way.

The people of Sumer were never able to recognize the deceitful nature of the priestesses promises; the beliefs they had conceived in error remained a reality even as over-cultivation turned the earth under Sumer white. "The gods have abandoned us," began one lament, "like migrating birds they have gone."


The cyclicality of life:

While we have made progress in our understanding of events by transitioning from God to science as a mode of explanation, we have yet to recognize the more basic exploitation of people's desire for welfare as a source of profit. The priestesses of yesterday have metamorphosed into the seductive power-bearers of today.

For a simple example we have only to briefly consider our world of finance. Credit rating agencies, responsible for providing the public with a rating of risk for various kinds of issued debt, are riddled with the exact conflicts of interest suffered by the public as a result of the relationship between the priestesses and Kings. In both instances the worthiness of the entities are being endorsed, and as experience shows us, these ratings are only partially representative of reality. The Kings extracted grain from the population with the support of the temple, while banks sell us junk debt that the agencies have given AAA ratings to.

Another noteworthy example of this cyclicality is our ritualistic support for those who use questionable proofs to demonstrate their superiority over others. Prior acceptance of the priestesses supernatural powers has been replaced with the acceptance of ideologues that can provide us with prosperity if we follow their beliefs. Think about how every political ideology claims to have the solution to all our problems. Rather than applying our experiences, or even common sense, to set priorities for development, we follow the voices that promise the most while sounding the least absurd.


Embracing complexity:

The priestesses of Inanna were not the cause of the earth under Sumer turning white. Nevertheless, they did distract the people from the true nature of things for their own benefit. Similarly, when we are presented with an ideology, or even a specific method of progress, we have to take into account the benefit such wholesale belief has for those professing its worth.

Anyone who is not confused with our world must lack an understanding of it; no one idea or entity can provide you with a perfect world. In fact, opposite methods are often used to argue for the same ends. Embracing the complexity of our world will force us to apply our experiences in a piecemeal manner and move forward in consensus, rather than stagnate in division.

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